Intelligence

Intelligence (abbreviated as "IN") is a measure of a character's smarts. It impacts a character's ability to learn several skills. It's also the limiting factor in a character's ability to learn and sustain spells, as well as their ability to master Technological Disciplines.

A character's verbal acuity is based primarily on his or her intelligence. A person of low intelligence has distinctly limited choices in dialog.

Spell maintenance: an intelligent wizard can keep control of several spells at a time; the maximum number of spells one can maintain simultaneously is that character's IN divided by four (the result is not rounded upward – with 11 IN, only two spells can be maintained at a time; a full 12 is needed to sustain three).

Dialog: a character with IN below 5 will not be able to speak properly, which can make dialog pretty humorous. IN 5 is the minimum required to learn spells.

As an exception, a character with the "Idiot Savant" character background can have higher intelligence while still communicating unintelligibly.